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This industry-first milestone was achieved with the latest generation of the Infinera Infinite Capacity Engine, ICE5, demonstrating Infinera’s continued rapid cadence in the development of vertically integrated optical engines with industry-leading optical performance and economics. The ICE5 600G technology, including 64 QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) and 69 gigabaud operation, also sets the foundation for the next generation, ICE6, which is on track to deliver 800G. ... infinera.com

March 12, 2018Author Stephen Hardy Editorial Director and Associate PublisherInfinera (NASDAQ:INFN) has taken the wraps off the newest version of its Infinite Capacity Engine DSP and photonic integrated circuit (PIC) combo. The ICE5 will support a total of 2.4 Tbps via 600-Gbps wavelengths or superchannels.

The company also unveiled new L-Band capabilities for the ICE4 and offered a quick look at the upcoming ICE6.

The new ICE5, at the top end, will support 66-Gbaud transmission via 64-QAM over four tunable wavelengths, which Jay Gill, senior marketing manager at Infinera, said the company will demonstrate at OFC 2018 in San Diego this week. The engine will support a variety of reach/transmission rate optimizations, enabling the ICE5 to support metro to submarine network applications. The former can take advantage of the full 600 Gbps per wavelength; Gill says the ICE5 will support 400 Gbps at distances greater than 1500 km.

Other features include built-in support of 400 Gigabit Ethernet, Layer 1 encryption, and Open ICE, which enables ICE-enabled Infinera platforms to work with competitor's line systems. Infinera will begin deploying the ICE5 early next year; Gill declined to discuss the platforms that will see the ICE5 first. The company called out data center interconnect, cable MSO fiber-deep and Distributed Access Architectures initiatives, and 5G mobile support as salient applications for the engine.

Meanwhile, Infinera believes the ICE4 still has a role to play in customer networks. To prove this, the company has announced L-Band capabilities for the device that complement similar capabilities for Infinera's FlexILS line system family. L-Band compatible meshponders with the ICE4 should reach the market by the first quarter of next year; the company also will demonstrate such systems at OFC 2018. Gill says multiple network operator classes would be interested in L-Band; the company's lead customer on the new capability is a communications service provider with fiber constraints.

The ICE4 preceded the ICE5 by about 24 months. The company expects a similar gestation period for the upcoming ICE6, said Gill. The company has already reported 100-Gbaud performance out of prototypes of the ICE6, supporting 600 Gbps over 1400 km as well as 800-Gbps transmission. As is the case with Nokia, which announced its new chips, the PSE-3, last week (see "Nokia touts ultimate in spectral efficiency via PSE-3 chipset and probabilistic constellation shaping"), Infinera is working on the application of constellation shaping; it has demonstrated including constellation-shaped 1024-QAM transmission via prototype ICE6 chips. Gill asserted Infinera's constellation shaping technology would not take a back seat to Nokia's when it becomes available.